Retail establishments such as supermarket chains require signage of every imaginable configuration. Every product sold requires some type of sign to inform a consumer of the nature and price of products on display. For example, produce such as oranges, bananas and grapefruit require one type of signage while frozen food bins and deli cases yet others. It is impractical for a multi-product retail establishment such as a grocery chain to inventory preassembled signage for each dedicated orientation. A far better solution is to provide the retailer with an inventory of parts which can be assembled on site depending upon the product display requiring such signage.
The present invention is not the first instance in which it was suggested that retail store signage be provided from a parts bin rather than as assembled members. However, prior knockdown component oriented kits have not been universally embraced by the retail trade for several reasons. Products of this nature of the prior art tend to be flimsy, and not easily assembled and disassembled and oftentimes require a certain level of skill and experience in converting the bin of parts to professionally looking customer-inviting signage. To be successful the parts must be able to assume a wide variety of orientations as retail food displays, from produce to fish to meats and dairy have their own unique signage requirements. Among them is the need to be able to adjust the height of the signage from its supporting base structure. For example, an easel base can be placed upon the surface of an empty display case which is then stacked with oranges, apples or the like in a pyramid fashion. In such an environment, it would be quite important to be able to vertically raise the sign holder sufficiently high to clear the mound of produce to which the sign relates; and to be able to lower the sign as the amount of produce diminishes.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a sign holder device having a stem between the base of the device and the sign holder. The stem can be included within a bin of parts to enable it to be employed with bases of various varieties and sign holders of a multitude of configurations. In this regard, reference is made to parent U.S. Pat. No. 6,530,166 disclosing a multitude of bases such as easel bases and those which can be employed between wooden slats and joined to parallel extending wires generally found in refrigerated cases. To that extent, the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 6,530,166 is incorporated herein by reference. The present invention can be employed with each of them.